choosing appliances...what to look for, good and bad brands etc..advice pls!

[chimchar]

we're having an extension built (well, as soon as we get planning passed!)

in our new kitchen, we need to buy a fridge freezer, a cooker and a dishwasher.

is there anything specific that i need to look out for, any features that you couldn't do without on anything?

what is considered a good/bad brand?

do you get what you pay for with cheaper lesser known bands? are they of inferior quality?

ta very much!

Go to John lewis and ask em

( they really know their stuff)

We have a Bosch fridge/freezer - apparently one of the better brands but we've had 3 replacement handles in the time we've had it (8 years) which I don't think is too great!
As far as cheaper brands are concerned, many are just as good, it's just a matter of people preferring to pay for a name etc but if you looked at a washing machine I would certtainly shop wisely as they can be a lot noisier the cheaper they are and if you want to do night time washes etc, that could be a problem. For fridges and kitchen appliances for your extension, I would compare models on websites that have the compare options - you can see at a glance what each one offers and what features they have and this is often the only thing that decides if they are cheaper or more expensive and it helps you to work out what actually is important to you!
Good luck with the extension - how exciting!

I am happy with our Bosch stuff
I didn't like the smeg appliances we had before

cool. thanks everyone!

any more words of wisdom?

The only other thing I can offer is that it's good to check the measurements of items because whilst a big proportion of applicances will have the standard height and depth etc, there are some around with extra centimetres and this will ruin the clean lines under any surfaces etc!
Can't help further I'm afraid - am currently adding to a dishwasher fund myself!